If you haven’t already take a look at all his posts from the start. Some really great stuff in there. I’m still enjoying DC and pushing hard, can tell a difference in my physique too.
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So here’s my plan. I want to do a cut.
I’m at 225 right now. My shoulders have grown significantly since starting BTN pressing and i want to drop some weight, then start DC. My abs are juuuuuust barely visible and my love handles are definitely impeding my V-taper, but this is where I’m at. I ordered a 50 lb kettlebell a couple days ago and I’ve wanted to try Dan John’s 10K KB swing workout for a while. It’s honestly more of a HIIT/conditioning month than it is a lifting routine, so this isn’t me reverting back to my volume ways, since I genuinely believe this lower volume stuff is where it’s at. It’s just an experiment to see if I can do it, and combine it with a slight deficit to drop 15-20 lbs. It doesn’t come til next Wednesday so I’ll be doing my regular routine til then, and then it’s off to the races for a month (if I make it), and then settling into a long stint of DC training. I’m excited for the challenge.
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Shoulders
BTN Press
95x10
115x5
135x5
135x15 (PR)
135x9
Seated DB Shoulder Press
35s x15
50s x16
50s x14, 30s x12, 15s x19
Lateral raise mechanical drop set
15s + bands x31, 15s x18, bands x40
15s + bands x19, 15s x18, bands x25
15s + bands x18, 15s x16, bands x30
Double cable lateral raise
3 on the stack x36
8 work sets. Fried.
Beast! It took everything I had to do 15 reps on those.
Welcome to the dark side. 
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31 reps isn’t 31 strict reps. It’s probably around 15 strict reps, 10 reps with body English, and 6 reps barely breaking 45 degrees. Paul Carter and plenty of others have been big fans of lateral Raises to true failure for a while, true failure being defined as when you can’t lift your arms more than a few inches off of your body. Even after sets like that I think back and realize I could have fought through more pain. The low volume approach can still apply to sets like this- side delts will simply not grow with regular, straight sets for most people. After you can’t take a lateral raise to 90 degrees with a straight arm, there is still a TON of work to do. Every part of my dropset is taken to true failure with body English and eventual reduced ROM.
Dude. If I can look anywhere near what you look like right now, I’ll be very happy. You look fuckin sick. Also, I take credit for being the first one on the scene to question if your “I look worse” thoughts were just straight up in your head and to tell you to keep going. Now I just have to get through my own body dysmorphia, since I was so skinny and I see myself in the mirror every day and think I’m still really skinny. I’ve got my sister asking if I’ve taken steroids and I’m over here wondering why I’m not big. I’m NOT particularly huge or anything close to it, but I know I have enough muscle that if I buckle down and diet, I can show it off much better.
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This lit my hammies up. Prepare to be sore.
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You completed it? The first week must be terrible, lol.
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First the hammies, then the traps and shoulders. I started with a 60lber, then dropped down to a 40. It was tough.
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I guess I haven’t reached true failure yet! I like using the cables more than anything. Slow eccentrics can hurt and I manage to not use my traps so much.
And here it is from March 21st. First one to tell me to keep going when I hit 215. Thanks for the nudge!
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Fuck it. I said, why wait?
10K KB Swing: Week 1, Workout 1
Time: 48 minutes.
50 lb KB
Cluster 1:
10 swings 1 chin
15 swings 2 chins
25 swings 3 chins
38, 12 swings rest
Cluster 2:
10 swings 1 chin
15 swings 2 chins
25 swings 3 chins
35, 15 swings rest
Cluster 3:
10 swings 1 chin
15 swings 2 chins
25 swings 3 chins
35, 15 swings rest
Cluster 4:
10 swings 1 chin
15 swings 2 chins
25 swings 3 chins
38, 12 swings rest
Cluster 5:
10 swings 1 chin
15 swings 2 chins
25 swings 3 chins
27, 23 swings rest
Total swings: 500
This is not easy. A lot of this was dialing in my form, recruiting abs and glutes properly, stopping myself from squatting and focusing on hinging. Plus my stamina went up and down because it’s a total mindfuck after the first cluster to think about doing it 4 more times. Reread the workout and I’m supposed to rest 30-60 seconds between sets and 3 min between clusters. I probably did no more than 30 seconds rest and definitely never hit the 3 minute mark between clusters. I hope I didn’t set too low of a time too soon, who knows. @dchris what was a good time for you as you progressed through these?
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I started this once. I think I used overhead presses. I got bored after 2 clusters and never went back 
but I’d like to give it a real shot someday.
Good luck!
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Hell yeah.
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I don’t know that I timed myself. 40 minutes doesn’t seem too far off. I definitely didn’t use the 3 minutes either. Sore yet?
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I’m just tired. Im not proud to admit it as a volume junkie, but it was hard to move around, especially after my PWO meal of turkey meatloaf, red potatoes and spinach. I can just tell my glutes and hams and upper back are gonna be sore, though. I feel like Week 1 is gonna be the hardest week.
Swings are violent compared to typical movements. The quick eccentrics are rough.
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If I could do swings without using my lower back instead of glutes then this would be good for me. But I still have work to do and I’ll only have one arm in two weeks.
Enjoy, Flap!
By the way, it seems like you haven’t been able to finish a program lately. I’m hoping this one breaks the streak. 
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I started this way and got a bit of discomfort around rep 200 but started bracing my abs and pushing my hips
Back, and snapping them forward while flexing my glutes and it turned into one continuous motion, as if there was no eccentric or concentric.
Totally a lack of discipline and patience on my part. Did some Hellraiser, did my own split (which lasted longer than anything else), tried high frequency squats, just wasn’t enjoying the HR or squats. This is a challenge. No excuses for missed reps or missed days. 10,000 is 10,000. I’m finishing this shit.
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I don’t know if I’d call it that. I think you just got bored. The program has to be in line with your goals. If you do something just to try it then it’s easy to stop/switch once you feel like you’ve experienced it.
I think people get it wrong a lot. They see programs in logs or in an article and think “That looks cool. I want to try that!”
They ignore the fact that they’re cutting and pursuing a better physique and the program they pick is a strength program.
People need to be honest with themselves and identify their #1 goal and pick their program based on that.
You want to cut and you’ve picked a workout that appears to be a MetCon type approach. They match.
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Appreciate the confidence, brother. I have felt super happy about this challenge today, and I think part of that is because as you said, it’s an appropriate program for my goals. I have a feeling after a month of heavy metcon and dieting that I’ll get a nudge from people here to go longer, since - let’s be honest - there’s only so much you can do in a month, even if you have a flawless diet and exercise plan. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, 1 workout down, 19 to go.
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What kind of weight did you have on the extension machine?